Disney and Turner Make Slam Dunk With NBA Deal

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By Chris Lange Published
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The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced Monday that it will not only continue its partnerships with Turner Broadcasting System of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) and with Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS). but also it will ramp up its content availability. This agreement states that Disney and Turner will broadcast NBA games through ABC, TNT and ESPN starting in the 2016-17 season and spanning nine years out to the 2024-25 basketball season. It also includes details on digital content distribution.

This deal was announced Monday morning by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. The current eight-year deals with ABC, TNT and ESPN will expire at the end of the 2015-16 season and will be renewed for nine years at that time.

The NBA and Turner will continue their partnership of jointly managing the NBA’s digital assets, which include: NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA Mobile, NBA LEAGUE PASS and WNBA.com. ESPN will be granted enhanced digital rights, as well, to provide NBA content for multiple ESPN platforms, including ESPN.com and WatchESPN.

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TNT will debut the first-ever NBA Awards Show, which will occur at the end of each season and “[It] will have expanded activation opportunities surrounding key NBA pillars such as opening Night and NBA All-Star Week.”

ESPN will receive exclusive rights to cover the NBA Draft and NBA Draft Lottery each season. Also ESPN Audio will stay the national broadcast home of the NBA while including an increased package of games, both regular-season and playoffs.

Turner Sports will also receive enhanced digital rights to NBA content, which it can share across multiple TNT platforms, including Bleacher Report. The content will feature selected camera angles, statistical feeds and video that will compliment TNT’s telecasts.

David Levy, president of Turner Broadcasting, said:

This is a significant deal for our company and we are pleased to continue our long-standing partnership with the NBA, its fans, owners and players. The agreement locks in some of the most valuable, original, premium live sports programming that we’ll continue to monetize across TNT and all other platforms within our extensive portfolio and will help further grow our businesses into the next decade.

ABC, ESPN and TNT are all receiving more games to televise than they previously had, among these other benefits.

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Photo of Chris Lange
About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.

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